Medic concerned over pace of vaccine roll-out
A Nenagh medical consultant has said mistakes made by the Government have contributed to the current record level of Covid-19 infections in the State, and she predicted that it could take until the end of September before the bulk of the country's populuation is vaccinated against the virus.
Dr Mary Ryan, from Ballinaclough, made her remarks on a week when Independent Tipperary TD Michael Lowry called on the HSE to co-ordinate “a major emergency plan” to ensure that the vaccine is rolled out as rapidly as possible.
Dr Ryan, a consultant endocrinologist, said one of the reasons for the high levels of infection now putting the health services under extreme pressure was that so many people were allowed back into the country over the Christmas period.
“One thing we did not take advantage of is that we are an island and the fact that we are an island we should be able to control things better,” said Dr Ryan.
Allowing people to return home from countries like the UK and Holland where there were high rates of infection had contributed to the crisis.
She said Ireland should have adopted policies implemented in countries like New Zealand and Australia if it wanted to prevent such a rapid spread.
Dr Ryan said the Government expected too much goodwill from people in helping to stem infections. “If you have ten people doing the right thing but two doing the wrong thing it's no good with this disease.”
She said people returning to Ireland over the festive period should have been properly tested for the virus and made quarantine in a guarded hotel for two weeks prior to visiting their friends and relatives.
Speaking on Tipp FM, Dr Ryan said it was a mistake to allow non-essential shops to open after Christmas; she felt they should have been closed on Christmas Eve.
“It was lovely to give people their little bit of Christmas and hospitality, you have to strike a balance...but I think the travel is where they [Government] really lost it.
"I believe travel was a massive thing. We let the [highly] contagious strain in and we were taking people in all over December from Holland and the UK where the [infection] numbers were huge, so we were bound to get infestation then.”
Dr Ryan said allowing travel between the North and South of the country was also a major issue in the spread.
“The North is a big problem as well, where you have to stop people coming down full stop until we get on top of this,” she said, adding that only goods should at this stage be allowed from the North into the South.
Looking forward, Dr Ryan had a message for the public and for the Government: “All we have to do now is to be positive and get on with this, but we really have to get on top of this. They [Government] have to do the lockdown they are now doing, but equally they have to cop on and sort out the travel.”
Referring to the rate of the roll-out of the vaccination programme, Dr Ryan advised people not to book a holiday before September.
Speaking on the day prior to the announcement last Friday that Ireland “should” receive an additional 3.3 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine after the EU extended its contract with the pharmaceutical companies, Dr Ryan, was critical of the slow roll-out of the vaccination programme, and felt it could be the end of September by the time that everyone in Ireland is vaccinated.